10 ms·

Facing my fear: when I moved back to America, I felt like a foreigner

40 points by betolink 10y ago

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
eximius 10y ago
I felt some fear too. I was in late elementary and middle school overseas and when I came back I had a bit of culture shock. I despised a lot of popular culture as antiintellectual and uneducated and rude... some of my childhood friends werent as I remembered and we werent interested in the same things anymore (which was not a surprise, really - we'd been going back for the summers most years).
puppetmaster3 10y ago
Obama was here for 8 years, lots has changed.
- bubo_bubo 10y ago
  The only thing that's changed is that in-your-face racism is acceptable to many whites because "Trump says what's on his mind." For a lot of people, dog-whistle euphemisms like "urban" aren't needed anymore. People have become coarser and rude. Just because we got a black president doesn't mean things are better for non-whites.
  - justicezyx 10y ago
    IMHO, I do not think racism as a whole is on rise. As for "is acceptable" or not, I think that's a personal choice. Racism is never about internal thinking, it's about conduct. Trump said many things, but I do not think it's fair to label them as racism speech or similar. He certainly did not "say what's on his mind"; otherwise the words would be 100* worse TBH.
    - cylinder 10y ago
      America's problem is institutional racism, not conversational racism.
  - puppetmaster3 10y ago
    What happened Bubo is that Obama's go-to-move is race baiting. 'You are racist' button got hit so much: it no more has any meaning. Trump was not in WH for the past 8 years. Here are some of his supporters: http://twitter.com/TrumpWorld00/status/767313253479448577 http://twitter.com/TrumpWorld00/status/767313253479448577 http://twitter.com/Don_Vito_08/status/772789053385240576 http://twitter.com/Don_Vito_08/status/772789053385240576 http://twitter.com/dt_ads/status/772242215271862272 http://twitter.com/dt_ads/status/772242215271862272 More: http://twitter.com/DiamondandSilk http://twitter.com/DiamondandSilk http://twitter.com/sweetatertot2 http://twitter.com/sweetatertot2 And now you know. You can by self find out more about Clinton.
- douche 10y ago
  It really hasn't, which is the great missed opportunity.
lwhalen 10y ago
Stopped reading at "social contract", which to me functions as a heavily-slanted SJW dog-whistle announcing "logicless drivel ahoy".
- cyberferret 10y ago
  You'd judge a 1000+ word essay by just two words early on? Perhaps that is exactly the point the author is trying to make about the state of things these days...
- danbolt 10y ago
  I'm not familiar with the term "social contract", but maybe you could enlighten me? I found it was an interesting way of describing quirks about our world that aren't readily describable.
  - dalke 10y ago
    It's a term originally from the 1700s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract . I learned it in US history courses in school. My best guess about the "whistle" lwhalen refers to is the anti-libertarian implication in the concept. That Wikipedia page links to various bits of criticism, including "A critique of social contract theory as counter-factual myth" and "A satirical example of a social contract for the United States from the Libertarian Party."
  - rocqua 10y ago
    Basically, the social contract is a replacement for a real contract that justifies the power you have over government and the other way around. I see it come up like this most often with regards to tax and zoning laws. In case of the article, the social contract says what the city can do to you, and what it must do for you. Noteworthy is e.g. that the system here can surveill you with helicopter spotlight.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- internaut 10y ago
hkmurakami 10y ago
This evoked memories of my time working in Japan, where at 24 years old, was the first time I had lived in the country. I very much felt like a foreigner, and had never felt more "American" than when I lived and worked there. Similar to the author, I saw my new grad colleagues getting their souls crushed by the corporate machine (mine was one of the hardest crushed), felt a strong desire to help, as someone who came from a culture with a healthier perspective towards work and life, but was entirely powerless to do anything.

40 points by betolink 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

I felt some fear too. I was in late elementary and middle school overseas and when I came back I had a bit of culture shock. I despised a lot of popular culture as antiintellectual and uneducated and rude... some of my childhood friends werent as I remembered and we werent interested in the same things anymore (which was not a surprise, really - we'd been going back for the summers most years).

puppetmaster3 10y ago

Obama was here for 8 years, lots has changed.

bubo_bubo 10y ago
The only thing that's changed is that in-your-face racism is acceptable to many whites because "Trump says what's on his mind." For a lot of people, dog-whistle euphemisms like "urban" aren't needed anymore. People have become coarser and rude. Just because we got a black president doesn't mean things are better for non-whites.
- justicezyx 10y ago
  IMHO, I do not think racism as a whole is on rise. As for "is acceptable" or not, I think that's a personal choice. Racism is never about internal thinking, it's about conduct. Trump said many things, but I do not think it's fair to label them as racism speech or similar. He certainly did not "say what's on his mind"; otherwise the words would be 100* worse TBH.
  - cylinder 10y ago
    America's problem is institutional racism, not conversational racism.
- puppetmaster3 10y ago
  What happened Bubo is that Obama's go-to-move is race baiting. 'You are racist' button got hit so much: it no more has any meaning. Trump was not in WH for the past 8 years. Here are some of his supporters: http://twitter.com/TrumpWorld00/status/767313253479448577 http://twitter.com/TrumpWorld00/status/767313253479448577 http://twitter.com/Don_Vito_08/status/772789053385240576 http://twitter.com/Don_Vito_08/status/772789053385240576 http://twitter.com/dt_ads/status/772242215271862272 http://twitter.com/dt_ads/status/772242215271862272 More: http://twitter.com/DiamondandSilk http://twitter.com/DiamondandSilk http://twitter.com/sweetatertot2 http://twitter.com/sweetatertot2 And now you know. You can by self find out more about Clinton.
douche 10y ago
It really hasn't, which is the great missed opportunity.

lwhalen 10y ago

Stopped reading at "social contract", which to me functions as a heavily-slanted SJW dog-whistle announcing "logicless drivel ahoy".

cyberferret 10y ago
You'd judge a 1000+ word essay by just two words early on? Perhaps that is exactly the point the author is trying to make about the state of things these days...
danbolt 10y ago
I'm not familiar with the term "social contract", but maybe you could enlighten me? I found it was an interesting way of describing quirks about our world that aren't readily describable.
- dalke 10y ago
  It's a term originally from the 1700s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contract . I learned it in US history courses in school. My best guess about the "whistle" lwhalen refers to is the anti-libertarian implication in the concept. That Wikipedia page links to various bits of criticism, including "A critique of social contract theory as counter-factual myth" and "A satirical example of a social contract for the United States from the Libertarian Party."
- rocqua 10y ago
  Basically, the social contract is a replacement for a real contract that justifies the power you have over government and the other way around. I see it come up like this most often with regards to tax and zoning laws. In case of the article, the social contract says what the city can do to you, and what it must do for you. Noteworthy is e.g. that the system here can surveill you with helicopter spotlight.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
internaut 10y ago

hkmurakami 10y ago

This evoked memories of my time working in Japan, where at 24 years old, was the first time I had lived in the country. I very much felt like a foreigner, and had never felt more "American" than when I lived and worked there. Similar to the author, I saw my new grad colleagues getting their souls crushed by the corporate machine (mine was one of the hardest crushed), felt a strong desire to help, as someone who came from a culture with a healthier perspective towards work and life, but was entirely powerless to do anything.